Hey gang, just wanted to post a few things I’ve learned from having my vac working for about a week. I had one of the units that had to be returned and then a few struggles once I got the new one, so hopefully this will help others out.
- The Vac runs MRPT , if there is a limitation in MRPT there will likely be the same limitation in your Vac. Set your expectations appropriately.
- MRPT runs on port 6000, you can telnet to it and get a view of some of the messages flying between the vac and your app.
- In order to map correctly, the home base seems to need to be setup in a corner. I have a room that is shaped like an octagon and if I set home there, my maps always came out tilted 30 degrees. Same if I set it along a long wall with no corners in view.
- The map doesn’t seem to expand as more of the room becomes visible. For example my initial map of my laundry room included having laundry baskets inside of it that blocked off a section. In subsequent runs, the vac can see the open space but it doesn’t expand the room into that space. Make sure your rooms are clear before you map!
- If you are having issues creating virtual walls, getting the “wall endpoints must exist in the same room” error, that’s because the map for whatever reason has tiny gaps in it that won’t display. Remapping is the only way I’ve been able to fix it.
- I have a black rug in one of my rooms and the vac is convinced that it’s the cliffs of insanity. I’ve had to create a virtual wall to keep the vac from getting stuck in place.
- Likewise my couch has a matte black wooden base that is too low for the vac to fully go under but just the right height to slam the lidar into. The vac is unable to see that matte black color for whatever reason, so virtual walls are how I tell it to stop hitting itself.
- Don’t hit the home button if your vac is stuck under a table or something similar. It will likely get stuck under there.
- Don’t move the home station once the map is complete, it wiped the map in my case.
- If you interrupt the vac going home to say clean out the hopper and then hit resume, it will start the vac program all over again. Just let it go home.
I hope that helps folks. My vac has been running great now that I figured out its quirks and I can’t wait to pick up another one.
